The Ship Model Forum

Been working for about 7 months (minus 2.5 months everything was packed away for a move that didn't happen) on converting the Gallery 1/350 Intrepid into CVA-12 USS Hornet in her 1957 WESTPAC configuration. The scariest task (to me) was cutting the flight deck to move the number 3 elevator forward for a 27A vrs Intrepid's 27C configuration. I figured I'd have to use a powered table saw but my son talked me into just using a scriber. I did it today and it turned out perfectly! I'm thrilled! Now I just have to make the cut forward on the piece I cut-off so the flight deck elevator area is correct for a 27A.

That's a very interesting conversion, Al! Thanks for sharing, hope to see some pictures of your progress as well!

_________________
"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

Model Monkey Island dry fitted to the flight deck.

That's indeed interesting! Seems you're going methodically step by step.

_________________
"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

ha ha! First ship model I've done in 26 years. Last one was a BWN 1/350 Gearing kit converted down to a Sumner class to create DD-731 USS Maddox in her 1950's fit when my dad served on her. I thought that was alot of work but this project makes that one look like a snap-n-fit! I'm just moving from task to task as it seems to make sense. I'm about to start the hangar deck ceiling. alot of Evergreen plastic involved in that.

1957 for CVA-12's Westpac cruise with CAW-14

Started on the hangar bay ceiling today. Forward bay ceiling is lower than the other bays so I had to create that using Evergreen Plastic models .060 X .060 strips, .020" sheet, .060" I-Beams, 010 rods, 1/6" rods, 080" tubes and alot of glue and patience. I think it looks pretty good.

Once the forward bay ceiling was done I started on the #2 & #3 bay ceilings by laying down .060 I-beams. Tomorrow I'll started laying-in the cross beams.

Lovin' it.

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Past three days have been spent building the hangar bay ceiling framing. I've tried to make it as close to the photos I've seen of Hornet's hangar bays. This project will not have LED lighting so much of this work is for my satisfaction. I still have to add the piping, speakers, light fixtures, aircraft drop tank hanging frames (Photo-etch), etc.

I missed this one until now. Very brave of you to move the starboard elevator and its supports.

It was a bit scary but with lots (and I means lots) of photos I got it done correctly.

Well, guys: one thing that makes life easier for us is that the frames of this ship have a constant pitch of four feet exactly.
So if the lift is moved over a certain distance, it will be over a multiple of four feet.
The General booklet of plans helps to find how may times of four: identify the frame numbers in the old and new situation and you know exactly how far to move the elevator forward.
I have the plans here of CV-18: in that case the elevator #3 sits from frames 132 to 146. So the elevator is 14 x 4'= 56' long
Can someone else identify the corresponding frame numbers of the Intrepid? (Or the Ticonderoga CV-14 or the Hancock CV-19 for that matter)

I did a quick comparison of the Gallery/Trumpeter kit and come to the conclusion that elevator #3 sits there between frames 155 and 169. So also over 14 frames.
The distance to move it forward must then be 23 frames, 92 feet in reality or 80.12 mm on the model. (3.15 inches for those insisting on old measurements).
But if someone has more affimative data please chime in!

_________________
"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

Hi David,

I have the Wasp booklet here, but no it won't: that one is similar to the Hornet.

We need one of the three SCB-27C ships with the elevator in the aft position, these were CVA-11 Intrepid, CVA-14 Ticonderoga and CVA-19 Hancock.

_________________
"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

Took a couple of days off so back at it today. I added the rest of the fire suppression piping, additional larger diameter pipes, speakers as well as the I-Beams in hangar bay 3 used to transport heavy items (i.e., engines, etc) around bay three. I still have to add the mesh I'll be using for the fencing/grated areas of the ceiling as well as the light fixtures. This ceiling project hasn't taken anywhere near the amount of time I had been dreading it'd take. I know the majority won't really be viewable but I want this project to be as realistic as I can make it. I've wanted to do this project for decades. It took retirement and a 1/350th scale kit to use for it to finally happen.

Spent the past week adding the Tetra photo-etch to the Island. I didn't have to use all of the pieces from Tetra since Hornet 57 didn't use all of the items that the Intrepid kit called for. I also primed and then painted the number 2 & 3 elevator bottoms as well as fire hoses and reels. Next is to add the fire hoses and reels around the ship.

Today I spent alittle time adding Refueling Hose Reels and Fire fighting hose reels around the flight deck walkways as well as adding some reels onto the fan tail. I then painted the tops of the fire fighting hose racks in preparation for adding more around the ship.

Airbrushed the hangar ceiling white along with the reels I'll be adding in the hangar bay. I also airbrushed the Island Haze Grey after adding the hanging bar for the launch cables onto the port side of the Island in preparation for hanging the launch cables on the Island as Hornet did in 1957. The kit doesn't provide all four yardarms so I had to create one. Tomorrow I'll start adding clear rhinestone to the hangar bay ceiling as the light fixtures. I'll then have to make the aircraft fuel tank hangers and add them to the ceiling where they were placed. Coming along pretty well.

I've already corrected it. Filled-in the incorrect portion and scribed the area. It won't be 1000% perfect but close enough.